This episode deals with the theme of the double in William Wilson, and compares it to the same theme as used by Oscar Wilde in Dorian Grey.
This episode also compares two characters hundreds of years apart who are both influenced by doubles - Spiderman and William Wilson.
This episode deals with the theme of the double in William Wilson, and compares it to the same theme as used by Oscar Wilde in Dorian Grey.
This episode also compares two characters hundreds of years apart who are both influenced by doubles - Spiderman and William Wilson.
102 Spiderman and Poe
COME REST IN THIS BOSOM INRO
00:01 Introduction
My name is George Bartley, and this is episode number 102 of Celebrate Poe - Spiderman and Poe.
In an earlier episode, I guess you could say I discounted Poe’s short story - William Wilson. I felt that the story would be too long to read in its entirety - at least right now - and I still feel it is not one of Poe’s best works - but I have come to the realization that it deserves a second look - like much of Poe’s works, the story has so many layers and meanings.
And do forgive me for the change in title for this episode. Orignally I intended to use the title Did William Wilson have multiple personalities - and I still plan to deal with that question, but when faced with some info about the double motif in Poe’s William Wilson and the double motif in Spiderman, well, I just had to lead in with that angle.
TRANSITION MUSIC
01:26 Spiderman
This week, a page from a comic book showing Spiderman wearing his black suit for the first time sold for $3.36 million dollars - making it the most valuable book of original comic book artwork. Of course Spiderman is usually a dependable force for good, but with the black suit from a symbiote, he basically develops an alternate personality.
You see, in the Marvel universe, a symbiote can envelop their hosts like constumes and create a parasitic bond that can influence their host’s - in this case - Spiderman’s - mind.
That scene is also depicted in the new Spiderman movie - though I am not sure if it is the first time that Peter Parker wears a symbiote suit. Spiderman goes on to do some things that we don’t expect from Spiderman - like getting snippy with Mary Jane and displaying an inflated ego to where he is insufferable. In other words, Spiderman shows characteristics of a person with a double personality. You might even say that Spiderman in a black suit has an distinct alter-ego - making him a doppleganger.
02:55 Meaning of doppelganger
The word doppelganger is usually considered a look-alike or double of a living person who is completely unrelated. And Spiderman - when he is in the black cape - fits that bill.
In most fiction, a doppleganger is protrayed as a ghostly or uncanny phenomenon, and often means bad luck - or at least an ominous future. Some stories treat a doppleganger as like an evil twin.
And I know that word - doppleganger - may sound strange - but it is basically a German word that means a double walker. One of the first - and definitely most influential - fictional doppleganger stories was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839. I admit that I almost dismissed the story and only looked at its sections about the narrator attending boarding school - but like much of Poe, the more you examine his works - the MORE you realize is there.
4:06 William Wilson at boarding school
William Wilson is the story of a narrator whose double haunts him from an early age.
Remember that in the story, the narrator attends boarding school in England, and becomes an excellent student - almost the best in his class. But there is one boy who appears to be better than him, and for some strange reason, has the same name - William Wilson. It seems that this second William Wilson is always undermining the narrator in front of his classmates so you have this narrator thinking of the second William Wilson as a rival, while at the same time he is a little afraid of him. This becomes even stranger when he learns that they joined the school on the same day, and even dress in similar clothes. Many of the students even believe they are brothers.
In other words, the two boys act and look like each other.
At first, Poe is not really clear - and I think this is deliberate - about whether the other person is his doppleganger - his double - or if the other person is just a fantasy. In the story, the narrator says about his double or William Wilson Two:
Wilson's rebellion was to me a source of the greatest embarrassment; the more so as, in spite of the bravado with which in public I made a point of treating him and his pretensions, I secretly felt that I feared him, and could not help thinking the equality which he maintained so easily with myself, a proof of his true superiority; since not to be overcome cost me a perpetual struggle. Yet this superiority — even this equality — was in truth acknowledged by no one but myself; our associates, by some unaccountable blindness, seemed not even to suspect it.
06:32 Wilson becomes more intimidated
But the first William Wilson become more and more intimidated by the second William Wilson. And as the story progresses, the narrator tries to be the dominant one of the two - or does he?
The narratator - and by this I mean William Wilson one - sometimes makes really bad decisions. Sometimes it seems the William Wilson Two is able to possess another body - like a Spiderman symbiote who is able to meld his mind with a superpower - I tell you - Poe was ahead of his time!
But back to William Wilson - The confusing thing here is that the reader can only really see through the narrator’s eyes - like the murderer in The Tale Heart - he could very well be an unreliable narrator - we don’t really know to what extent. It is sometimes impossible - and I think this was Poe’s intent - for the reader to fully understand what is reality and what is the narrator’s imagination - again, The Tell-Tale Heart.
Not surprisingly, the encounters between William Wilson One and Wilson Two get wierder and wierder, so William Wilson One moves to another town. He busies himself with all kinds of activites and seems to totally forget about Willliam Wilson Two - then one night - and this sounds like something straight out of a horror movie -
I looked; — and a numbness, an iciness of feeling instantly pervaded my frame. My breast heaved, my knees tottered, my whole spirit became possessed with an objectless yet intolerable horror. Gasping for breath, I lowered the lamp in still nearer proximity to the face. Were this — the face of William Wilson? I saw, indeed, this was him. I gazed; — while my brain reeled with a multitude of incoherent thoughts. Not thus he appeared — assuredly not thus — in the vivacity of his waking hours. The same name! the same contour of person! the same day of arrival at the academy! And then his dogged and meaningless imitation of my gait, my voice, my habits, and my manner! Was it, in truth, within the bounds of human possibility, that what I now saw was the result, merely, of the habitual practice of this sarcastic imitation? Awe-stricken, and with a creeping shudder, I extinguished the lamp, passed silently from the chamber, and left, at once, the halls of that old academy, never to enter them again.
All these repressed memories of William Wilson two now come to the surface, and the narrator moves to another boarding school - in this case, Eton. Then to Oxford where he picks up a very dangerous habit - gambling. But the other William Wilson enters the scene and sees to it that his games do not go well. You could say that the second William Wilson is acting like to keep the narrator from destructive habits.
But the narrator resents William Wilson Two’s interference - it seems that wherever William Wilson One goes, William Wilson Two destroys his happiness. I kinda get the image of a character in a cartoon with an angel on one shoulder telling him what to do, and a devil on the other shoulder trying to tempt him.
The narrator certainly has a lot of questions.
Why is this Wilson Two following me?
What does he want?
Why does he look and act like me?
How does he always manage to find me?
Why does he want to destroy my life?
The narrator tries living in various cities, but nothing seems to help. In the words of the narrator -
I fled in vain. My evil destiny pursued me as if in exultation, and proved, indeed, that the exercise of its mysterious dominion had as yet only begun. Scarcely had I set foot in Paris ere I had fresh evidence of the detestable interest taken by this Wilson in my concerns. Years flew, while I experienced no relief. Villain! — at Rome, with how untimely, yet with how spectral an officiousness, stepped he in between me and my ambition! At Vienna, too — at Berlin — and at Moscow! Where, in truth, had I not bitter cause to curse him within my heart? From his inscrutable tyranny did I at length flee, panic-stricken, as from a pestilence; and to the very ends of the earth I fled in vain. And again, and again, in secret communion with my own spirit, would I demand the questions “Who is he? — whence came he? — and what are his objects?” But no answer was there found.
Finally, the narrator is tired of the double showing up at the worst times, and runs to Rome. Here he is invited to a masquerade. But - surprise, surprise! - the double follows him there too.
I felt a light hand placed upon my shoulder, and that ever-remembered, low, damnable whisper within my ear. In an absolute frenzy of wrath, I turned at once upon him who had thus interrupted me, and seized him violently by the collar. He was attired, as I had expected, in a costume altogether similar to my own; wearing a Spanish cloak of blue velvet, begirt about the waist with a crimson belt sustaining a rapier. A mask of black silk entirely covered his face. “Scoundrel!” I said, in a voice husky with rage, while every syllable I uttered seemed as new fuel to my fury; “scoundrel! impostor! accursed villain! you shall not — you shall not dog me unto death! Follow me, or I stab you where you stand!” — and I broke my way from the ball-room into a small ante-chamber adjoining — dragging him unresistingly with me as I went.
Upon entering, I thrust him furiously from me. He staggered against the wall, while I closed the door with an oath, and commanded him to draw. He hesitated but for an instant; then, with a slight sigh, drew in silence, and put himself upon his defence.
The contest was brief indeed. I was frantic with every species of wild excitement, and felt within my single arm the energy and power of a multitude. In a few seconds I forced him by sheer strength against the wainscoting, and thus, getting him at mercy, plunged my sword, with brute ferocity, repeatedly through and through his bosom.
At that instant some person tried the latch of the door. I hastened to prevent an intrusion, and then immediately returned to my dying antagonist. But what human language can adequately portray that astonishment, that horror which possessed me at the spectacle then presented to view? The brief moment in which I averted my eyes had been sufficient to produce, apparently, a material change in the arrangements at the upper or farther end of the room. A large mirror, — so at first it seemed to me in my confusion — now stood where none had been perceptible before; and, as I stepped up to it in extremity of terror, mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood, advanced to meet me with a feeble and tottering gait.
Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my antagonist — it was Wilson, who then stood before me in the agonies of his dissolution. His mask and cloak lay, where he had thrown them, upon the floor. “You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead — dead to the World, to Heaven and to Hope! In me didst thou exist — and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.”
One interpretation is that throughout Poe’s story, the two William Wilsons have fought over dominance, and eventually they consume each other.
16:23 Dorian Gray as a double
Oscar Wilde was greatly influencd by Poe’s works. His only novel, A Picture of Dorian Gray - is basically a variaton on William Wilson and the theme of the double. In Dorian Gray - the double is NOT two sides of one person, but a living person who basically does what he wants and stays the same age, while his portrait ages. The living Dorian Gray can party as much as he wants, destroy other people, and live a genuinely disgusting life while his portrait deterioates. When Dorian Gray eventually sees the condition of his portrait, he stabs it - resulting in his death. The novel ends ironically - with the real body of Dorian Gray now having deterioted and the portrat young-looking again.
The conclusion of The Picture of Dorian Gray can be interpreted in much the same way. Here the living character of Dorian Gray is now dead, and the image in the painting appears to be young - except you can’t exactly say living - because the image never WAS living.
TRANSITION
17:57 The Three Faces of Eve, Sybll, and Split
And a variation on the doppleganger - or double - theme is that of the individual who has several distinct identities Now I want to talk briefly about two excellent true story films are based on individuals with multiple personality disorder or as it is more recenty called - dissociative disorder.
The 1957 movie The Three Faces of Eve stars Joanne Widward as a somewhat backwards Georgia housewife with three distinct personalites - with three distinct persons living in one body. She got an Academy Award for one of those performances that just takes your breath away.
Then in 1976, Sally Field recieved an Emmy for playing Sybll - another true story about a lady with another excellent movie about a lady played by Sally Field with 16 personalities. In Sybil, Joanne Woodward plays the therapist.
I recently saw The Three Faces of Eve on DVD, and can highly recommend it - the movie is less than 90 minutes - and gets right to the point.
Sybill is over 3 hours long, and is well worth seeing - but if I had one move to see I would choose The Three Faces of Eve. I had seen Sybill before, and remember that in both cases - The Three Faces of Eve - and Sybill - the multiple personalities are an attempt to deal with traumatic - and in the case of Sybll - torture and punishment - that the individuals suffered when they were much younger.
And an excellent fictional account of a person with disassociative disorder is the 2016 movie Split with James McAvoy from the X-files starring as a ruthless villian with 24 personalities fighting for control. Known as The Beast, he kidnaps and imprisons three teenage girls in an isolated underground facility. The Beast has experienced a history of childhood abuse, and eventually the personalities battle each other in the movie. One has superhuman strength (you won’t find that in The Three Faces of Eve or Sybll) and can scale walls. At first, the movie might sound kinda hokey - but I think it is one of the best thrillers I have ever seen. If you have not seen it, check out the movie Split.
TRANSITION
20:44 Childhood trauma?
Now - please bear with me on this one. I feel childhood trauma could be relevant to the boarding school experiences in William Wilson. I am going to read a passage from William Wilson - remembering that Poe frequently has passages with multiple meanings -
But before I read this let me explain the mean of ferule - a ferule is a flat ruler used for punishing children. A few whacks of a ferule were known to really hurt. OK - this is from the first part of William Wilson where Poe is describing the school -
The grounds were extensive, and a high and solid brick wall, topped with a bed of mortar and broken glass, encompassed the whole. This prison-like rampart formed the limit of our domain; beyond it we saw but thrice a week — once every Saturday afternoon, when, attended by two ushers, we were permitted to take brief walks in a body through some of the neighboring fields — and twice during Sunday, when we were paraded in the same formal manner to the morning and evening service in the one church of the village. Of this church the principal of our school was pastor. With how deep a spirit of wonder and perplexity was I wont to regard him from our remote pew in the gallery, as, with step solemn and slow, he ascended the pulpit! This reverend man, with countenance so demurely benign, with robes so glossy and so clerically flowing, with wig so minutely powdered, so rigid and so vast, — could this be he who, of late, with sour visage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule in hand, the Draconian Laws of the academy? Oh, gigantic paradox, too utterly monstrous for solution!
I mean, at first glance, this REALLY looks like Poe is being overly dramatic. Initially he descibes a portion of the grounds - then continues his description rather matter of factly - and ends with This reverend man, with countenance so demurely benign, with robes so glossy and so clerically flowing, with wig so minutely powdered, so rigid and so vast - and basically contrasts the serious reverend with the lines - could this be he who, of late, with sour visage, and in snuffy habiliments, administered, ferule in hand, the Draconian Laws of the academy? Makes him sound rather cruel. And then Poe goes on to write Oh, gigantic paradox, too utterly monstrous for solution That has to be one of the most melodramtic and over the top sentences I have ever read - Oh, gigantic paradox, too utterly monstrous for solution
Oh come on - this is really taking it hard - unless the character of William Wilson or even Poe himself - experienced abuse from a religious monster.
No wonder he would have such an extrme reaction. And were the actions of William Wilson a result of repressed memories?
Edgar Poe had a way of understanding human nature and predicting the theories of such later minds as Freud and Jung - of course they did not use the same language - but Poe seemed to understand human behavior and man’s internal reactions.
The great professor Harold Bloom has said about Shakespeare and his works - that Shakespeare understands me better than I understand Shakespeare.
I believe the same can be said about Edgar Poe and HIS works - that Poe understands me better than I understand Poe.
25:15 Future Episodes
In the next episode, I want to deal with the events surrounding the Allan family as they leave England and return to the United States. Then the week after that, I plan to have Mr. Poe AND Mr. Shakespeare discuss their education - a lot more similar than you might think. Both Poe and Shakespeare were said to concentrate on classical education - and schemes of rhetoric that were common to both writers. We believe that Shakespeare studied rhetoric at the local school in Stratford on Avon, and Poe, of course, at Stoke Newington, as well as the day schools he attended in Richmond, Virginia when he returned to the United States.
25:55 Sources
Sources for this episode include Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight Thomas and David K. Jackson, The Reason for the Darkness of the Night. by John Tresch, Poe and Place by Phillip Edward Phillips, the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Thomas Alive Mabbott, and lectures by Bokos Borbala of the Partium Christian University in ORODeea, Romania.
Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.